The Witcher S3 Highlights Geralt & His Friends' Greatest Flaw

Contains spoiler for "The Witcher" Season 3, Episode 1

"The Witcher" isn't a subtle show when it comes to character design. If the fact that main character Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) is a white-haired, yellow-eyed guy who stands half a head taller than most other characters isn't proof enough, you only need to look at ... well, pretty much any other "The Witcher" character, really, but especially Geralt's traveling companions at the beginning of Season 3, Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri (Freya Allan).

Both Geralt and Yennefer are well-known and visually distinctive players in the Continent's affairs. Ciri is Nilfgaardian Emperor Emrhyr var Emreis' (Bart Edwards) daughter and the Princess of Cintra, which would make her a key political player even if she didn't happen to be a highly magical carrier of the Elder Blood. In order to protect Ciri, Geralt and Yennefer effectively have to outsmart the entire world. So, it's too bad that they make absolutely zero attempts to disguise themselves in any meaningful way during their travels. In fact, "The Witcher" Season 3, Episode 1 makes clear that Team Geralt's greatest weakness is their complete and utter inability to lay low.

It's not that Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri don't know how to disguise themselves, per se. Both Yennefer and Ciri have extensive experience in hiding their true appearance while on the run, yet here they resort to the classic yet ineffective "wear a hood when you're on the road" stratagem. Even Geralt, who's easily the most visually distinctive of the three and knows perfectly well that people recognize him as a Witcher from a mile away, should know that he needs to do something to mask his most immediately recognizable traits. Despite this, the best he can do is to wear his usual ratty hooded cloak, which does very little to hide his striking white hair, Witcher eyes, and distinctive gear. 

It's not that the trio doesn't realize that they should pay attention to disguises, either. Yarpen Ziglin (Jeremy Crawford) explicitly tells Geralt to dye his hair, outright stating that people are looking for the White Wolf, not the Black Wolf. Nevertheless, Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri remain clueless, even when they actually attempt to put in the effort. Their attempts to mask themselves for the highly public visit at the Belleteyn festival consist of the usual cloak for Geralt and an extremely eye-catching black dress for Yennefer, who complements the outfit with a black lace pattern non-mask that does a good job drawing attention to her distinctive purple eyes. In all fairness, Ciri's disguise — comparatively simple clothes and a large carnival mask — might actually do the trick, if it wasn't for the fact that she ditches the mask the first chance she gets. 

While all three characters are ultimately more about making an impression than hiding themselves from the world, it would be nice to see them actually make an effort to disguise themselves well, given that they know full well that powerful forces are on their tail.